Back in November 22, 2012, 14 days after I came home from the hospital, I went in to the emergency room (ER) with what I thought was a cough caused by bronchitis. I was given antibiotics, but unfortunately, the cough didn’t get better. It got worse. I was coughing nonstop and the cough was suffocating me. Many of my friends kept telling me that I may have whooping cough, as all my symptoms (the type of cough, duration, and intensity) fit the classic Pertussis symptoms.

I went to my pulmonologist for help. He gave me prednisone (a steroid), which stopped the cough for a few days. However, I soon needed to be off this steroid because it affected my muscles and I was unable to climb stairs and get off sitting positions. My proximal and girdle muscles were so weakened. Fortunately, as the steroid left my body, my muscles returned to normal.

As the cough didn’t get better, I kept returning to the ER, only to be given some medication that didn’t work and a few days later, I’d be back in the ER again. On December 27, 2012, I went in by ambulance and was admitted as an asthmatic patient. In the hospital, I was given megadoses of a steroid called dexamethasone (decadron). As decadron is 6.6 more powerful than prednisone, my muscles once again were attacked. I stayed in the hospital for 13 days and then I was transferred to a nursing rehab facility. I had to be weaned off the powerful steroid slowly (it took over 1 month), and I had to relearn to walk again, as I was now confined to a wheelchair.

I am finally able to function a bit. I still have difficulties getting off chairs, but once I’m up, I can walk as if nothing happened.

And the for those of you who are wondering what my cough was, here’s the answer: I had WHOOPING COUGH (Pertussis). If you are wondering, I had whooping cough when I was 5 and I was vaccinated when I was 30. But, because many new parents are choosing NOT to vaccinate their children (please heed my words, the vaccine is less dangerous than the actual disease), pertussis is on the rise. Specially susceptible to reacquiring the disease are teenagers and adults. I also found out that pertussis requires revaccination every 5 years. So, go get the the DPT vaccine. You won’t suffer the way I did. And, by the way, the steroids that I was given was fruitless. Nothing can stop pertussis once you get it. It has to run its course. I wish I had known that. I wish I was not misdiagnosed.

by MICHAEL HAYNE

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

In a very open departure from my usual coverage of U.S. Politics, this comedian/writer willingly decided to check out some of the exciting happenings at this year’s Comic Con at the Jacob Javit’s Center in NYC. For the uninitiated, Comic Con is mostly known as an opportunity for parents to celebrate, as their basement-dwelling offspring don their favorite superhero costumes (of course the morbidly obese guys have to always be the most decidedly fit action heroes) and head on out to immerse themselves in comic book culture.

Yes, I just coupled comic book and culture. But lately, the seemingly DC and Marvel dominated event has become more and more of a legitimate unveiling of some of the smartest and most engaging television series. With graphic novel adaptations in TV and Film being the new “little black dress,” the cast and creators of AMC’s zombie apocalypse-themed Walking Dead was a huge draw and attracted an insane amount of devoted fans for the panel and screening.

But flying under the Walking Dead radar was the cast and creators behind the CBS show Person of Interest. Aptly named after law enforcement’s politically-correct shibboleth for “suspect,” Person of Interest is a compelling crime drama that departs widely from the cliche-ridden and often times mediocre acting from CSI. The series immediately has credibilty with its opening voice-over by Mr. Finch, who’s played by Michael Emerson.

“You are being watched. The government has a secret system: a machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it. I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people, people like you. Crimes the government considered irrelevant. They wouldn’t act, so I decided I would. But I needed a partner, someone with the skills to intervene. Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You’ll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up…we’ll find you.”

It can be said that Michael Emerson is Hollywood’s go-to guy when it comes to playing creepy, cagey little guys. Emerson’s mind-blowing, disturbingly cryptic and equally enigmatic portrayal as the never-quite-honest Benjamin Linus on Lost–another J.J. Abrams produced series–is a character role that Emerson will never consider as the dreaded “typecasting.”

In fact, when it came to Q & A time (on a side note, every single questioner must have either worked a NYCC panel before of all came in on the LIRR together since they all were from Long Island), Emerson couldn’t escape his Lost exploits.

Perhaps not intentional, but one quixotic and way too eager questioner basically said that Michael Emerson must be a creepy weirdo since he plays them so well. But in actyuality, she was curious about his career moves. Emerson said that he takes great pleasure in playing villains.

I tend not to think of them in terms of villains. I just try to tune in to what they’re trying to accomplish.

Emerson, who is a very mild -mannered man with a meek disposition, ironically has played mostly zany characters in stage and theater productions. After all, Emerson comes from the world of theater. So it’s safe to assume that Michael is more akin to Kevin Spacey than the sinister characters he plays since I don’t recall him once torturing me mentally and sending me out on any psychologically painful peregrinations of peril (how’s the for an alliteration?).

During the Press roundtable held immediately after the panel, I had to ask Emerson if he at consciously or subconsciously was at all channeling Anthony Hopkins’ ever sinister and eminently intelligent Dr. Hannibal Lecter character during a key scene between him and the actress who played Kate on “Lost.”

Emerson seemed flattered by the comparison and mentioned he’s a huge fan of Anthony Hopkins, but didn’t state that he was aware of this interpretation. Much like the rest of the world, he stated that he’s mostly familiar with more grotesque stuff he did in that role as Hannibal. But the very kind actor humored me:

“Well, those were good puzzles in that movie and I like playing with puzzles…and cat and mouse. That type of thing is good fun,” said Emerson.

And since Lost was such an amazing show (well, otherworldly episodic concierto), “Person of Interest” Creator/Executive producer Jonathan Nolan, who was also at the panel, gave “Lost” fans a major priapism when he announced that that Lost’s Mark Pellegrino, the all-too swedish looking actor who portrayed the very dreamlike and surreal Jacob on the hit ABC series, will be guest-starring with fellow Lost Alum Emerson in this upcoming season of Person of Interest.